Route from Isafjordur to Dynjandi
It was about 60 km from Isafjordur to Dynjandi waterfall. The drive was about an hour. This falls was often said to be one of the must visit falls in Iceland, “not that we know why”? It looked like an ordinal “fan-shaped” falls.
Along the route the landscape view was pretty stunning. The sky was blue, white and sunny. So as and when the view was captivating we stopped our car by the roadside and came up to “smell the flowers”.
We were driving on road 60 enjoying the water view on our right and as we drove pass the last bend of the road to Dynjandi (about 3 km away) we saw the falls. From far it did not look impressive at all.
Dynjandi
Free parking was some distance at the base of the falls. From there was some distance uphill to Dynjandi. Looking at Dynjandi from the carpark we finally realised that Dynjandi was HUGE. It was so much larger than we thought. The tiny dots we spotted near the falsl on a ledge was people!
Dynjandi waterfall was the biggest waterfall in the Westfjords and was called “Jewel of Westfjords. At the top it was about 30 metres wide, at its base about 60 metre and the water cascaded down over 100 metres.
On the way up to the Dynjandi waterfall was several smaller falls each with its own name. T
There was Baejarfoss, Hrisvadsfoss, Gongumannafoss, Strompgljufrafoss, Haestahajallafoss. The water from Dynjandi ran down the uneven terrain ending into the sea about 2 km away. On its route down to the sea the water cascaded over several stretches of rocky outcrop forming these smaller falls.
We walked up as high as we could to see Dynjandi falls, it was not a easy climb. We just did it slow and relaxingly, stopping to see the smaller falls. Took about 15 minutes to 20 minutes to reach the higher part where there was no more further upward path.
“Dynjandi” was an Icelandic word and it meant “thunderous”. Standing just at the base of the falls (still some distance from the water) the sound of the cascading water was terribly “loud”. Dynjandi waterfall was considered one of the 10 top falls of Iceland and after this visit we could understand the reason for its fame. Dynjandi falls was absolutely “majestic”.
Rauðasandur
Our next destination which was also our final destination for the day was Raudisandur. It took about 1.5 hour over a distance of 96 km to drive from Dynjandi to Raudisandur.
To get to destination we had to cross three highland/ridges/hills, one near to Dynjandi and two near to Raudisandur. On the highland looking down we saw lovely views of the fjords and bays. bays.
We left Road 62 and went onto Road 612, after 3 km we saw a shipwretch. On the ship was a painted number “BA 64”. It was the Gardar BA 64, Iceland’s oldest steel ship. It was a former whaling and fishing vessel.
From Road 612 we turned left to Road 614 and after 10 km we reached Raudisandur, the red beach of Iceland. The beach was flat and endless it was beautiful but its color was yellow and not red! Most beaches in Iceland were black but Raudasandur Beach was yellow (it was suppose to be red or reddish yellow). The only time during our stay when there was a slight reddish tinge was during sunset.
We had plentiful of time to explore this Raudisanur Beach because we were staying in a hut on a campsite (Melanes Camp) on the beach. Raudasandur beach was about 10 km long, it stretched from Melanes down the coast to Latrabjarg Bird Cliffs
In Westfjords there were no more volcanic activities so there was no longer the constant creation of ashy sands (black color) which accounted for the sand of Rauðasandur not being black. As to why it was reddish, it was due to crushed scallop shells accumulated over time.
Our stay
We booked a hut (one of the three) at Melanes campsite. The booking was done on Airbnb and the cost was SGD$134 a night. It was only on arrival that we realised that the campsite was for not for just three huts but a whole fleet of camper vans, tents etc.
Our hut was very cute looking. We drove our car all the way to the hut. Outside our hut was a picnic table and bench. There was also a small shop on the campsite selling coffee and other stuffs. 
Our hut at Melanes CampsiteThe inside of the hut was very small. It had two beds, one on each end of the hut and a narrow table in between.
On the other end of the campside was a shared kitchen and toilets. During our booking we thought that the shared kitchen and toilets were for the usage of the people staying in the three huts. It was only on site that we realised that the shared kitchen and toilets were meant for all other people (hundred of them) on the campsite! To avoid crashing with the crowd for the kitchen and toilets we did our cooking early and washing up too.
Beside our huts was a fenced off area with several horses. It was fun seeing the horses rolling on the ground. We wondered if all the rolling was a form of “back scratching”. We tried enticing a white horse with an apple but it did not give us much of a glance.
Other accommodation near Rauðasandur